Friday, September 28, 2012

We've all seen those posters, right? Keep Calm and Carry On? And its many other iterations. I must fess up that I have a Keep Calm and Carry On poster. It serves me as a reminder to, well, keep calm. And carry on.

I stamped the leaves with various shades of brown, green, yellow, and orange. Cut them out, and layered them at the bottom of the Keep Calm stamp. I stamped the acorn, cut that out, and used a pop up dot to give it some lift. Finished the layout with a fly away leaf.

Do go by the Technique Tuesday blog to see other projects made with these new stamps! Thanks for coming by today.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Today we are celebrating the release of Elle's Studio'stwo new lines for Autumn and Christmas: Spooky Talesand Be Merry ! They are hitting the stores this week and you can also get them at their website now!The Spooky Talesline works great for Autumn/Fall AND Halloween! And, the Be Merry line is perfect for Christmas layouts, cards, and would work great for your December Daily! And, as a bonus, with both lines they've also worked in tons of tags that are perfect for Project life!

I've been an Elle's Studio fan for a long time, and my favorite Christmas item every year is any item that has numbers! Yes, I am a fan of using numbers in layouts. Check out this year's! So good, right?

I'm also a sucker for anything Halloween and/or Thanksgiving. They are actually my two favorite holidays. My fave Elle's Studio products in this line? The pennants. I think they add just the right amount of fun and whimsy to any project.

I used both in this layout (just a peek today) about the Halloween costumes I make for my children every year. This layout came together quickly because with Elle's Studio's products, you don't have to hunt down all the perfect embellishments. They ARE the embellishments. Totally simple and awesome. The October gallery will debut on October 1st .

Yes, that's a googly eye you see.

Now the best part! I get to giveaway two of my favorite items from the new releaseto one lucky winner! Leave a comment to be entered to win my faves: the Be Merry Numbers and the Spooky Tales Spooky Pennants. I'll draw one winner on Saturday, September 29th, so make sure you check back to see if you've won!And, don't forget to keep going! There are different prizes and winners at every stop in the hop - you have 13 more chances to WIN:Elle's StudioAngelaBeckyDianaJillJenJenniJenniferKayLinda < you are here!MichelleSophieValerieWaleska

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

My project features one of the two new paper lines: Dewey Decimal. Dewey is a mix of school/office/Fall. I posted about a couple of layouts using this line here and here. This little layout is about my youngest child, who's all boy. But he's also all heart. It balances out very nicely. (Although I could use with a little less hopping on the sofa...)

The Christmas tree paper is my favorite and it was perfect for a layout about Christmas trees! This was our tree from last year, in following our tradition of going out and cutting a fresh tree ourselves. There was a huge contrast between what our past tree cutting trips had been, and what they are now.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

If you are looking for the Elizabeth Dillow's Meaningful Minis giveaway, please click here.

I mostly create layouts, and sometimes cards. But cards have always baffled me. I look through otherpeople'sblogs and I am in awe. How do they do that?

I have come to the conclusion that I need to stick to simple. It's what feels most like me. Although that's not to say that I don't want to learn to new techniques. On the contrary, that's one of the most exciting things about stamping. There's so much to learn!

This first one is self-explanatory. It's supposed to look like the printer's registration is off. I used three bright colors to emulate cyan, magenta, and yellow, and stamped them randomly. I tried it once with black (the K of CMYK), but it didn't look as good. As a graphic designer, I'm giving myself the permission to skip K...

This second one took a little more work. But not that much more. And it was fun! I stamped the images with Versamark and embossed them with some white Zing. Then I went to town with Technique Tuesday's watercolor crayons. It's one of those techniques that look like it took a lot of time and effort, but it didn't. A win-win, if you asked me.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

ETA: I've plugged the numbers into random.org, and the winner is Caroline Hackney! Congrats! You are going to love this book.

My friend Elizabeth Dillow has done it again. She has written another book that I love. Her first one is a total classic! This time she takes on mini-albums. Not just ones made to be cute and stacked in a basket. But ones that really mean something. Here's what the Ella site had to say about it:

Whatever you make, make it meaningful.Elizabeth Dillow applies this philosophy to everything she does, and Meaningful Mini Albums may be the meaningfulest* of them all. She poured her heart and soul into 12 amazing albums (some itty bitty and others merely small) that will inspire you to tell your best stories in creative new ways. And your purchase includes a free video tour of 7 of the 12 albums. (Details on page 2 of your download.)

The beauty of a mini-album is that you can pack BIG memories inside. And these are projects with a clear beginning and end, which means you get to accomplish something grand and set the finished product on the shelf for all the world to see, flip through, and enjoy. Aren't you dying to think mini?

*Yes, we made up a word, but we're in good company. Shakespeare made up words all the time.

I just finished downloading and reading through the book, and it's full of ideas I want to recreate. And this is from someone who's not a mini-album person at all! My first one will be Instagram Favorites (see above). Followed by Family Maps.

But don't take my word for it. (I am a huge fan of the Reading Rainbow and always wanted to say that. Yes, I'm a dork.) Leave me a comment telling me which is your favorite book of all time (it doesn't have to be scrapbook related), and I'll pick a winner this Friday to win a copy of Elizabeth's book. Remember to leave me your email address or a link back to your blog.